New York bar charges $125 for a bottle of Belgian Beer

New York bar charges $125 for a bottle of Belgian Beer
Credit: Oude Beersel

A bottle of Belgian Lambic has been spotted on sale for $125 (€113) for a 75cl bottle, almost €100 more than it would go for in Belgium.

Bzart Lambiek - brewed by Oud-Beersel - was spotted for sale in Treadwell Park in Manhattan for €99 more than the €14 a bottle will average on the home market.

The beer is made with a combination of the method of sparkling wines with the spontaneous fermentation for lambic beers, and served in a chic bottle, but brewer Gert Christiaens told HLN that exclusivity was never the aim.

“That bar is making a huge profit, but I’m selling fewer bottles,” brewer Gert Christiaens told the Flemish Daily. “You can sell your product anywhere, but what happens to it after that is out of your control.”

The exuberant cost of the beer was first flagged by the Guardian, who partially attributed the pricing to a mixture of finite resources, costly production, and the growing interest in sour beer in the states.

Christiaens, however, has said he had no intention of cashing in on demand. “We’re not going to deny people the beer just because someone is asking extortion prices for it.”

One mystery that remains, however, is how the beer got there.

"I have no idea how that bottle got there," said Christiaens. “It has been years since Bzart was sold in America and even then that was very limited. Of course, the system drives up the price in America. The beer is imported, then goes to a distributor and only then ends up at the retailer.

Jules Johnston

The Brussels Times


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